Alfred Zijai (7 February 1961 – 11 February 2013) was an Albanian

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Club career

Born in

Vlorë Vlorë ( , ; sq-definite, Vlora) is the third most populous city of the Republic of Albania and seat of Vlorë County and Vlorë Municipality. Located in southwestern Albania, Vlorë sprawls on the Bay of Vlorë and is surrounded by the foo ...

, Zijai spent his entire career with hometown club

Flamurtari Flamurtari FC is a professional football club based in Vlorë, Albania. The club plays in the Kategoria e Parë, which is the second tier of football in the country. Founded in 1923, the club is one of the oldest in Albania, and it is also on ...

during the 1970s and 1980s, during the club's golden years alongside fellow international players like

Sokol Kushta Sokol Kushta (born 17 April 1964) is an Albanian retired football player, who was arguably one of his country's best players in the second half of the 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s and one of the first to be allowed by the communist part ...

Kreshnik Çipi Kreshnik Çipi (born 15 February 1958) is an Albanian retired football player and was a member of the Assembly of the Republic of Albania for the Democratic Party of Albania. Football career Club Çipi started out as a winger, moved to fullback ...

Petro Ruçi Petro Ruci (3 March 1957 – 2 July 2009) was an Albanian football defender. Club career Ruci had a spell at Dinamo Tirana and was part of Flamurtari's golden team of the mid-1980s who played Spanish giants FC Barcelona in two successive UEFA C ...

, Alfred Ferko and Rrapo Taho. Playing for them between 1979 and 1991, he won the Albanian Cup in 1985 and 1988, and the

Kategoria e Parë Kategoria e Parë is the second level of professional football in Albania, behind the Kategoria Superiore and above the Kategoria e Dytë. Format Kategoria e Parë was founded in 1930. It is made up of 14 teams. The 2 best ranked teams gain prom ...

in 1991. In the 1987–88 season, he and his Flamurtari teammates managed to knock out

Partizan Belgrade Jugoslovensko sportsko društvo Partizan ( sr-Cyrl, Југословенско спортско друштво Партизан, lit=Yugoslav Sports Society Partizan), commonly abbreviated as JSD Partizan ( sr-Cyrl, ЈСД Партизан, link ...

and Wismut Aue, before losing for a second successive year to Spanish giants

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Found ...

in the UEFA Cup.Alfrd Zijai: “Ishim një brez i artë”
- Telegraf

International career

He made his debut for

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

in an October 1986 European Championship qualification match away at

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

and earned a total of 3 caps, scoring no goals. His final international was a November 1987 European Championship qualification match against

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

Futsal

Zijai became a member of the Executive Committee of the

Albanian Football Association The Albanian Football Association ( sq, Federata Shqiptare e Futbollit; FSHF) is the governing body of football in Albania. The association is based in Tirana, Albania. It organises the national football leagues of the Albanian Superliga, the F ...

, and he founded the Futsal Organisation of Albania.

Personal life and death

He was a father of two and suffered from a liver disease. He died on 11 February 2013, at the age of 52.

Honours

* Albanian Superliga: 1 ::

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...

* Albanian Cup: 2 ::

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

Albania - Albania - List of Cup Finals
- RSSSF

References

External links

* 1961 births 2013 deaths Footballers from Vlorë Men's association football midfielders Albanian footballers Albania men's international footballers Flamurtari FC players Deaths from liver disease {{Albania-footy-midfielder-stub